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"Perhaps some of the pugnacity the Giants have shown during their run to the
Super Bowl has rubbed off from Ann Mara, the wife of late Giants owner
Wellington Mara.

In the Giants locker room after Sunday's
victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, Ann Mara
chided Fox analyst (and former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback) Terry Bradshaw
for not picking the Giants during the network's pregame show.

As Bradshaw is about to interview wide receiver Victor Cruz, Mara steals the
show, tapping Bradshaw on the arm, then saying, "You never pick the Giants."
Cruz laughs, and Bradshaw chuckles too, then says, "I'm sorry. I'm getting
hammered for not picking the Giants."

“At times it was very difficult to contain yourself,” he said after
Sunday’s NFC Championship Game victory. “Even this past week, when the
excitement of this thing was building up, the days seemed to be flying by and I
was nervous we were doing all we could possibly do to put ourselves in a
position to win. But these guys have gone out and done it against the best we’ve
played.”

That’s a guy having fun right there.

“When you’re not in the playoffs, it hurts a lot,” Coughlin said. “Those are
the times when you think, ‘My goodness, what are we missing here? How are we
denying ourselves such an incredible, enjoyable experience? What can we do about
that?’

“It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been in the playoffs, a few years
since the Super Bowl, and now that we have this experience again, we’re humble
about it, knowing full well a game of this nature could’ve gone either way.
Thank God it went our way, but we’re excited about it.”

* * * *

One quick note: I did this as soon as I got back to my hotel Sunday night and
worked through the night. I had a 6 a.m. flight that doesn’t land until 2:30
p.m. or so. I sent this to the desk to post for me.

That’s a long way of me saying I’ll get to any corrections and additions when
I can. In the meantime, you know where to put your feedback down below.

Special teams coordinator Tom Quinn and assistant Larry Izzo. Suddenly, special teams is a strength of this team.
And by the way, nobody on the front line budged early on any of the kick
returns. The Niners weren’t going to sneak in a surprise onside kick on these
guys.

General manager Jerry Reese and the rest of the front
office. He was laughing at the idea of what he called the “murderer’s row”
schedule the Giants faced late in the season because there are no gimmes in this
league. Now, he’s very happy his team went through it. “The schedule was brutal
and we took advantage of the brutal schedule,” he said. “I like the tough
schedule. You win these kinds of games when you play a brutal, physical schedule
like we play, when you’re battle tested and you come out on top.”

QB Eli Manning. The touchdown pass to WR Mario
Manningham was a dart. That’s such a great throw right there. He had
plenty of others and did
a great job of not trying to do too much. But in another example of how calm
he is in pressure situations, his presence of mind to see the field-goal unit
running on the field at the end of the second quarter and to wait for them to
get back to the sideline before snapping it was huge. If he snaps the ball
there, that’s a penalty, as Troy Aikman and Joe
Buck told you. The part they left out is it’s also a 10-second runoff
because they didn’t have any timeouts. So had they been flagged for too many men
on the field, it would’ve been the end of the half. No field-goal attempt, no
halftime lead.

LB Jacquian Williams. We’ve covered
the forced fumble at length, so let’s take a moment here to highlight a
couple of fine third-down plays earlier in the second half: a pass defensed on a
scramble by Niners QB Alex Smith and a tackle on RB Frank Gore in the open field late in the third quarter.
Williams closed on Gore extremely quickly on that one.

WR Devin Thomas. Sometimes fumble recoveries are a matter of
luck, hustle and/or awareness, as was the case with his first recovery. And
sometimes, there’s skill involved like on the big one. That ball took only one
bounce before it popped up to a falling Thomas. He was ready and showed great
hands to make that play.

P Steve Weatherford. He deftly handled a low snap on the
game-winning field goal and also on a punt with 27 seconds left in the fourth
quarter. Nearly five months later, I think we can safety say the Giants made the
right call keeping him over Matt Dodge, huh?
K Lawrence Tynes. There was a lot of stuff that could’ve
broken his rhythm, and Billy
Cundiff’s miss earlier in the day could’ve gotten in his head as well. But he
nailed it.

WR Victor Cruz. Eight of his 10 catches were for first
downs. The first time he didn’t get a first down was a 13-yard catch on a
second-and-15 on the third-to-last play of the second quarter to set up a field
goal. The other one that didn’t go for a first down was a 6-yard catch in the
third quarter. On the next play, he caught a ball for 11 yards … and a first
down. I didn’t realize until today he didn’t have a catch after that 11-yarder,
which came with just under 9 minutes left in the third quarter. He
finished with 10 catches for 142 yards and could’ve easily cracked the
200-yard mark.

WR Hakeem Nicks. I forgot to ask what happened with his
shoulder early on. Given his threshold for pain and the way he reacted, I’m sure
he played through something painful.

Manningham. I wish I’d heard the TV feed during the game because Cruz was
yelling, “I told you! I told you!” and then turned to Nicks and screamed, “You
called it! You called it!” I’d love to know what they saw and what Nicks
called.

CBs Aaron Ross and Corey Webster. Yeah, I’d
say one catch for the other team’s receivers is a sign the corners played
well.

TE Bear Pascoe. I had no clue while watching live what
happened on his touchdown. After watching a few times on the replay, it looks
like Niners LB NaVorro Bowman was supposed to pick him up on
the crossing route. In any event, that was a great time for Pascoe to catch his
first NFL touchdown. The last time the Giants had played here, there were a
bunch of Cowboy hats waiting in the postgame meet-and-greet area. I had a
feeling they were there for the California native, whose family owns a ranch,
and they were. I didn’t get out to that area after this game, but I’m sure they
were waiting proudly once again.

DE Jason Pierre-Paul. Among other moments, his tackle of
Smith a yard short of the stick on a scramble in the second quarter was a fine,
fine play. He got upfield on LT Joe Staley and then peeled off
to get Smith. After a delay-of-game penalty, San Fran punted. One other
Pierre-Paul moment of note was when he got his hands up on third-and-5 with 6:03
left in the fourth quarter. That forced Smith to throw high for WR Michael Crabtree, who didn’t get the chance to get any yards
after the catch. A throw in stride there might’ve allowed him to get upfield and
get the first down inside the 5-yard line. Instead, the Niners settled for a
field goal and a tie game.

LB Mathias Kiwanuka. Okay, so it was a defensive lineman
trying to block him on third-and-1 early in the fourth quarter. But that’s still
DT Justin Smith, who’s a big, strong guy. So for Kiwanuka to
chuck him so quickly and create a pileup is another impressive play against the
run. Oh, and as his sack proved, he can still rush the passer when needed.

"Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said the feeling of losing a Super Bowl leaves
"an awful feeling in your stomach for a lot of years." His last Super Bowl was
four years ago, a loss to the Giants, and he admits he still hasn't completely
gotten over it.

"As time goes on, I still can’t watch highlights from that game," Brady said
this morning in his weekly spot on Boston's WEEI radio. "I think that’s just the
way it is. You get to the end, and we had a great opportunity there and really
squandered it, because we didn’t play our very best. You realize in this game,
you're playing the best competition in the league, and everything is on the
table. So it’s a great chance to be here, and this team has deserved it."

Brady and his Patriots will have another crack at the Giants in Super Bowl
XLVI in two weeks. He said they will dissect tape from a more recent meeting,
their 24-20 Week 9 loss to the Giants. In that game, Giants quarterback Eli
Manning drove his team to a last-second touchdown that won the game.

"We'll certainly look at that game, several times," Brady said. "You see
matchups, you see how your guys match up against their guys, route-running, and
blocking and so forth. It will have absolutely zero impact on the game, but at
the same time hopefully we can learn some lessons from that game. We really lost
the turnover battle in that game, which really hurt us."

He added: "It was a great game and sets up for a great rematch between two
teams who have earned the right to represent their conferences in the Super
Bowl. It's a great feeling for all of us players."

Brady praised the Giants defense as a physical group with as "one of the best
pass rushes you'll face in the league."

Brady has been critical of his play in yesterday's 23-20 win against the
Ravens in the AFC Championship Game. He said his second interception, on a deep
bomb intended for Matthew Slater in the fourth quarter, kept him up last night.
But he is ready for, and appreciative of, the chance to play one more game.

“It’s been pedal to the metal for five months now," Brady said. "There's
light at the end of the tunnel for all of us. There's one game to play, and it
means everything. I can’t wait; I’m excited. I really enjoyed yesterday's win,
and like I said, I wish I’d done a better job yesterday. But I’m thrilled to be
a part of this team and lead our team onto the field in Indy.”

"Add the names Jacquian Williams and Devin Thomas to the list of improbable
postseason heroes for the Giants.

It was Williams who stripped the ball from San
Francisco 49ers punt returner Kyle Williams in overtime, the play that
finally tilted field position in the Giants favor. And it was Thomas who pounced
on the football, which allowed Lawrence Tynes to kick the Giants to the Super
Bowl for a second time.

So with an NFC Championship on the line, it wasn’t Eli Manning or Justin Tuck
who made the biggest play. It was a rookie linebacker who was drafted in the
sixth-round draft and reserve wide receiver who was unceremoniously cut by the
Washington Redskins last season.

“I had a vision in my mind that I was going to make some type of big play to
help us win the game,” Thomas said after the
20-17 victory. “I thought it was just going to be that first fumble (when he
set up a Giants touchdown in the fourth quarter), but I got another opportunity
and I jumped on that.”

Thomas said the game plan for Kyle Williams, who was forced into the job in
the absence of regular kick returner Ted Ginn, was simple: Make sure to hit him
whenever possible.

“He’s had a lot of concussions. We were just like, ‘We gotta put a hit on
that guy,’?” Thomas said. “(Tyler) Sash did a great job hitting him early and he
looked kind of dazed when he got up. I feel like that made a difference and he
coughed it up.”

But it was Jacquian Williams who knocked the ball loose, not with a tackle
but with his open hand. The Giants sideline erupted as the ball hit the ground,
and Thomas barely had to do anything but fall on top of it.

“It was like, ‘I can’t believe he just fumbled,’?” Thomas said. “Then I’m
like, ‘Okay, I’m right here.’ So I just made sure no one would take it from
me.”

From the losing locker room, Kyle Williams saw it this way: “It was just one
of those situations where I caught the ball, tried to head up field, tried to
make a play and it ended up for the worse.”

That’s for the 49ers. For the Giants, it ended up with a fifth NFC
Championship in five title-game appearance. Jacquian Williams and Devin Thomas
join a list with names like David Tyree and Jeff Hostetler, players who emerged
from the shadows to make an impact for this franchise in the postseason.

GM Jerry Reese, the man who acquired both players, wasn’t surprise that they
turned the game in the Giants favor. He knows, in games like this, it isn’t
always the big names that make the biggest impact.

“Somebody’s got to make a play,” Reese said. “Somebody steps out of the
shadow and makes a play. Devin Thomas made a couple if big plays, jumped on a
couple of fumbles. Jacquian knocked that ball out.

"The San Francisco 49ers, on their 38-yard line, were just 20 to 25 yards away
from David Akers territory. With four minutes remaining and the game tied at 17,
they were that close to giving their All-Pro kicker an opportunity to take the
lead.

And in what had become a defensive struggle, a three-point difference almost
certainly would’ve been enough at wet Candlestick Park where the offenses had
stalled when the rain wouldn’t.

On third-and-7, Alex Smith dropped back to pass and before he could survey
the field, Giants linebacker Mathias
Kiwanuka blitzed through the offensive line to maul him.

With Kiwanuka clinging on to the quarterback, Osi Umenyiora joined in and the
two combined for the 10-yard sack. It was another 49ers’ third down and another
failed attempt to convert — 10 in a row to be exact.

The 49ers would finish 1-for-13 in that situation, the lone conversion coming
on a meaningless play with the Giants in prevent as time expired in
regulation.

“That’s what we do,” defensive end Dave Tollefson said after the
Giants' 20-17 overtime victory in the NFC Championship Game tonight. “On
third down it’s party time for the defensive line. We get after the
quarterback.”

Third downs weren’t as festive an occasion during the season for a Giants
defense that at one point allowed opponents to convert at least 50 percent of
their third downs an NFL-record five consecutive weeks, from Week 11 to Week 15.

The ability — or inability — to force an offense off the field on a
three-and-out has a domino effect.

“It’s very important. It wore their defense down a little bit,” defensive end
Justin Tuck said.

“Obviously, they still played a great football game, but anytime you can get
their offense off the field and get the ball back in Eli [Manning’s] hands, you
stand a great chance.”

The Giants were able to have success by stuffing the 49ers on first and
second down to force third-and-longs — the exact situation the Giants’ daunted
pass rush feasts on. In obvious passing situations, the Giants put in their four
defensive ends on the line — known as their NASCAR package — and tell them one
thing: get to the quarterback and hit him.

“That’s always our goal: get
three-and-outs,” Tuck said. “Make sure that they can’t get into any rhythm there
and most of the time it flows downhill from there.”

Third-down defense has become another vast improved area for the Giants over
the course of the last month, a product of improved play from not only the line,
but the back seven as well.

“It’s just testament to the guys in here and the coaches,” Tollefson said.

Usually, a picture of calm, even before his kick at frozen Lambeau Field four
years ago, Tynes was a bit more animated before this 31-yarder, and this game as
a whole, frankly.

It was that kind of lead-up on a wet, windy day here at Candlestick Park.

“I was a little more full of anxiety today for some reason. I’m not usually
that nervous before a game,” Tynes said. “I think a lot of it had to do with the
conditions. I don’t know why.

“Who knows why I dreamed last night I would kick a game-winner? I don’t
know.”

Tynes did dream it, and that’s why he wanted that chance. As much as a
touchdown would’ve made things easier for the Giants after Devin Thomas covered
a fumble to give the Giants the ball at the 49ers’ 24-yard line, Tynes was
hoping for a field-goal attempt.

It was originally a 26-yarder, but it was pushed back another 5 yards by a
delay-of-game penalty. 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh then tried to ice him with a
timeout, but he didn’t even kick the ball, so he clearly heard the whistle very
early.

Finally, with the wind playing tricks at that moment, he decided to stick by
the reads he had made earlier when he made a 53-yarder in pre game.

The snap was a bit low but Steve Weatherford scooped it and put it down,
unlike eight years ago when Trey Junkin skipped one along the grass and holder
Matt Allen chucked a desperation pass that fell incomplete.

“We exorcised some demons from the Giants from the 2002 postseason game, so
I’ll be happy to call Matt because he’s a good friend of mine and he was
involved in that play,” Tynes said. “Me and Matt played college ball together, I
thought about him today before we played so, you know, we exorcised some demons
tonight so that was cool.”When asked about an extension for coach Tom Coughlin, Giants
CEO John Mara said there would be time for that after the Super Bowl.

“We’ll talk about that at the end of the season,” Mara said.

Mara was also asked if he thought Coughlin might make this his last
season.

“I don’t think so,” Mara said. “I think he’s having too much fun.”

Every time a comparison has been made between the current
Giants team and the ’07 squad, LT David Diehl has been among the staunch
opponents of such talk.

Until tonight when he stood in the visitors’ locker room and realized Tynes
had just kicked them to the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots.
Again.

“Talk about crazy,” a smiling Diehl said. “You think about it, everybody kept
saying ’07 comparisons and all of us kept saying this is a different year and a
different season and it’s unbelievable how it’s played out just like that.”

Former Giants OL Rich Seubert, who now lives in California,
was an honorary captain along with retired DE Michael Strahan and TE Mark
Bavaro.

Safety Tyler Sash left the game with a concussion as a
result of a hit near the sideline that didn’t please the Giants."

Excerpt: "Each of the players leaving the San Francisco 49ers' locker room spent a moment
to lay a hand on Kyle Williams’ shoulder.

The 23-year-old who fumbled away a punt return in overtime, and with it the
49ers’ chances of a Super Bowl, nodded his head and assured them that he was
fine. His fellow receivers Joshua Morgan and Ted Ginn offered him protection and
solace from the throng of cameras and reporters that enveloped his locker, but
he stood up, dry eyed, to explain why the 49ers weren’t playing another game
this season.

“Everybody in here has come to me and told me to keep my head up, told me
it’s not on me,” a composed Williams said after tonight’s 20-17 Giants victory in
the NFC Championship Game. “It’s just one of those things, you hate to be
the last guy to have the ball and to give it away in that fashion and to lose a
game of this magnitude but, it is what it is.”

Twice in the game Williams mishandled punts in crucial situations, leading to
half of his opponents’ total score. In an overtime between two offenses in a
deadlock, it was his fumble on the 49ers’ own 24-yard line that led to Lawrence
Tynes’ winning field goal.

On the play, Jacquian Williams knocked the ball loose from Williams with a
swinging right hand and Devin Thomas made the recovery. Williams buried his gold
helmet into two gloved hands and let out a long sigh. Soon, it would be
over.

He made the long, cold walk to the team bus alone, a dark hoodie perched over
his head. Nearby, the Giants locker room was thumping in celebration.

A horde of 49ers fans exiting the stadium sandwiched his name between a
string of swear words. On Twitter, one user messaged Williams and wrote: “I hope
you, your wife, kids and family die, you deserve it.” Offensive lineman Anthony
Davis, several other teammates, and players around the league immediately came
to Williams’ defense." Read more...

"There was plenty to talk about after a night like this. He could have
rhapsodized about the defense, which proved, once and for all, that it is the
best in the NFL tonight. He could have gushed about the special teams, which
came up with plays that resulted in 10 points and helped win the field-position
tug-of-war. He could have thrown more rose petals at his quarterback, who took
the hits and kept coming back for more, as boringly brilliant as he has become.

He could have even talked about the weather, because everyone still felt
soaked by the 68-minute pelting they endured in the bog at Candlestick Point.

“Tom Coughlin deserves a lot of credit,” the Giants owner said, as he was
pinned against a wall of a jubilant locker room. “Hopefully our fans and people
in the New York and New Jersey area appreciate him a little more.”

Change the perceptions of New Yorkers and Jerseyans? It is to laugh.

“But I hope so,” Mara replied. “I mean, what more does he have to do? So I
hope so.”

You look back at the last five weeks and still shake your head. How does a
7-7 team earn an all-expenses-paid trip to Indianapolis in two weeks? By having
faith, is our guess. By listening to a remarkable, indomitable coach. At least
that’s what the owner thinks.

His coach is a man who feels certitude when others feel doubt, even when
there was a gong watch for his job back in Week 15 or so. Now, in the stunning
aftermath of the Giants’ triumph, you have to wonder whether Coughlin himself is
almost as stunned as the rest of us.

The answer is no. As far back as 7-7, he saw the possibilities.

“How? By just staying the course. By never saying never. By trying to
encourage at every point throughout the season, whether it was good or bad,”
Coughlin explained. “Not denying any of the facts, but still nevertheless seeing
that we had a talented team, believing in that team, thinking that if we could
get all these pieces together that maybe we’d have a chance to make ourselves
recognized.”

And somehow, it has evolved into his kind of team, playing his brand of
football — if you just walked the field before this one, you’d understand it.
You could hear an audible squish with each footstep. It was a grimy, sloppy
mess, a game of precision played in a big gooey bog, and it made for an
entertaining show if you happen to like defense.

As physics experiments go, this irresistible-force-vs.-immobile-object has
been regarded by most scientists as a waste of time. Coughlin thought
differently, of course: “A classic football game,” he said, more than once. “It
looked like no one was going to put themselves in position to win.”

By the time the overtime began, the offensive line was slowly but surely
starting to deteriorate like a two-ton block of papier-mache left out in a
flood, the center snaps were starting to get a little slippery, and Eli Manning
was starting to take some serious hits.

But something had to give, and as it turned out, it was 49ers return
specialist Kyle Williams.

Coughlin predicted it: “We knew going in and we talked about it; it felt some
(upstart) is going to be the difference-maker in the game,” the coach said, and
that player ended up being gunner Devin Thomas.

So off they go, gunning the accelerator. Again, how does this happen? Five
weeks after it seemed they were headed for the NFC East dumpster, after losing
for the second time to the last-place Washington Redskins? Maybe they were
inspired by the jowly foghorn from Florham Park, or maybe the team ahead of them
in the standings decided it didn’t want to play anymore when its quarterback
suffered a hand injury. Or maybe they just started to share the coach’s faith,
judging by the way they smashed their next four opponents by an average count of
30-12.

Now comes Game 20. The NFL is happy, because it has a Manning-Brady matchup
instead of (gasp) Flacco-Smith. The fans are happy, because it includes two
enormously popular teams.

“I’m not surprised,” Coughlin said of reaching XLVI. “I’m delighted. I’m
excited. But these guys have done it against the best. We’ve played a lot of
superior teams this year, especially down the stretch, and that certainly has
helped.”

Indeed, the Giants have to be very happy for a few reasons: They remember
what happened back in Week 9 when the beat the Patriots, and they have made it
abundantly clear what only Coughlin has told them for months now — that they are
richly endowed in all the areas that separate the second weekend of December
from the first week in February.

“We’re going to play our best game,” Justin Tuck said.

We don’t doubt it for a minute. Because they have a coach who will insist on
nothing less.

“Nobody works harder than he does,” Mara said. “Nobody wants to win more than
he does. And he knows how to win. Nobody could have predicted that we’d
be here right now in early November, and Tom deserves most of the credit — he
and No. 10.”

Coughlin himself could only laugh at it. He said Osi Umenyiora sidled up to
him in the postgame tumult and nudged him, exulting, “Have you thought about the
way this is coming down? Do you realize this is scary because of the way it’s
coming about?”

It was personal and he wasn’t reluctant to admit it. Not after Rogers dealt
various verbal jabs, instigating Cruz — normally conservative in his trash
talking — to respond back in their Week 10 meeting, a Giants’ 27-20 loss. And certainly not after
the cornerback mocked the receiver’s signature salsa touchdown dance following
his interception, the boiling point of a heated battle between the two.

Cruz said he won the duel in the first meeting when he caught six balls for
84 yards. Tonight, he won it again — emphatically.

The second-year receiver torched Rogers and the rest of the San Francisco
49ers' secondary with 10 catches for 142 yards, continuing what has become a
surreal breakout season.

That it came against Rogers was just a bonus.

“It’s a matchup that I knew that I had a pretty good shot against him,” Cruz
said after the
Giants' 20-17 overtime victory in the NFC Championship Game. “Coming from
the last game (against him), I did some pretty good things. I knew that the key
to this game was going to be getting open by any means necessary, no matter who
was guarding me. It just so happened to be him and I as able to do some positive
things.”

And he was able to do plenty at soggy Candlestick Park. By halftime, Cruz had
eight catches for 125 yards. When he caught his tenth and final pass in the
third quarter, nobody in the 49ers’ wide receiver corps had a single reception.

He did it in a variety of ways — over the middle, along the sideline and down
the field. He provided his weekly big gain — this week’s was for 36 yards — and
was Eli Manning’s security blanket for several first down catches.

He was instrumental in the Giants’ scoring drive just before halftime,
catching four out of five passes that came his way on the 10-play drive that
culminated with a 31-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes to give the Giants a 10-7
halftime lead.

In all, Manning targeted Cruz with 17 passes, testament to both the high
level of confidence Manning has in Cruz and the receiver’s ability to find ways
to get open even with opponents putting a bull’s-eye on his back. Even though he
didn’t come up with a catch after midway through the third quarter, he remained
a threat, nearly coming up with a couple of miraculous catches on overthrown
balls.

“He has confidence in me and he trusts that I’ll be there at the right time
when my number’s called,” Cruz said. “It just felt good.”

He was held out of the end zone so he wasn’t able to retaliate with a salsa
dance at Rogers’ expense, but after two weeks of being lost in the shuffle —
even five catches for 84 yards last week against the Green Bay Packers didn’t
live up to the lofty expectations Cruz established for himself — he was in a
groove when it mattered most.

A strong start, save 13 seconds
It’s hard for the Giants
to look at some of the key numbers of the first quarter and not be exceptionally
pleased. They twice held the ball on sustained drives, eating up more than 10 of
the first 15 minutes. But it’s also hard for the Giants to not be maddened by
the first quarter, having nothing to show for either time they had the ball —
and watching Vernon Davis get behind Antrel Rolle for a 73-yard touchdown that
gave the 49ers an early lead. That 13-second possession outweighed the rest.

SECOND QUARTER

A good idea: Noticing Cruz
A curious defensive game plan
from the 49ers bit them in the second quarter. Eli Manning found Victor Cruz for
36 yards down the right sideline on the first play, and again for 6 yards to
convert a third down. And then, once the 49ers decided to pay attention to Cruz,
Manning hit Bear Pascoe for a 6-yard touchdown. But Manning and Cruz closed the
quarter in the same fashion, connecting for 56 yards on a drive that netted
Lawrence Tynes’ first 31-yard field goal of the night.

THIRD QUARTER

Trading blows, and one big jab
When the teams returned
for the second half is when this contest became a full-fledged brawl. The Giants
immediately turned up the pressure on Alex Smith, sacking him on the 49ers’
first drive. And San Francisco stymied what had been a thriving offense before
halftime into a largely ineffective bunch that ended all four of its drives with
a punt. Again, the quick strike from Alex Smith to Vernon Davis — this time over
Kenny Phillips and in front of Corey Webster — gave the 49ers the lead.

FOURTH QUARTER

Tension wins, but yet no end
Imagine the nails gnawed and
the edges of seats worn out during the final 15 minutes. Eli Manning had his
seventh fourth-quarter comeback in line when he took advantage of a short field
— Kyle Williams’ first gaffe — and threaded a 17-yard touchdown to Mario
Manningham. But Williams’ kickoff return to the 45 set the 49ers on their way to
a tying field goal. The teams then spent the final 5:39 of regulation getting
three cracks apiece — but falling short. Overtime was only fitting.

OVERTIME

Hearts break, leap
You can’t help but feel for Kyle
Williams. The 49ers had stuffed the Giants, sacking Eli Manning for a 10-yard
loss and forcing a punt. And Williams looked to head upfield before Jacquain
Williams stripped the ball — and Devin Thomas fell on it. Three runs by Ahmad
Bradshaw, a kneeldown in the center of the field, a delay of game and a 31-yard
field goal for the win. Routine."

"Steve Weatherford, having fielded a low snap and put down the most important
hold of his life, was now celebrating inside the cramped, joyous visitors’
locker room at Candlestick Park.

Wearing only a towel, he climbed the short wall next to his locker and looked
like a wrestler going off the top ropes.

“We’re going to the Super Bowl!” the Giants’ punter yelled as he landed on
screaming, somewhat-frightened equipment manager Joe Skiba.

It was that kind of scene inside this throwback locker room, in this
throwback stadium, after a throwback game the Giants won, 20-17, tonight on
another overtime field goal by Lawrence Tynes. This one, set up by a clutch
forced fumble by rookie Jacquian Williams, was a 31-yarder that sailed through
the uprights with 7:06 left in the extra session, giving the Giants their fifth
NFC Championship Game victory in as many tries and sending them to Indianapolis
in 13 days for a rematch with the
New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI.

Justin Tuck couldn’t bring himself to watch the kick after a delay-of-game
penalty pushed Tynes back 5 yards and a timeout made this excruciatingly tight
game that much more riveting — or gut-wrenching.

“I couldn’t take it,” the defensive captain said. “I had to turn around and
look, and I was glad to see what I saw.”

What he saw was bedlam on the field: Weatherford running toward the sideline
and yelling, “Super Bowl!” with a few choice words tucked in there, Tynes
looking for his wife Amanda, players embracing, and the tightest squeeze toward
a locker room in the NFL.

In that hallway in the southeast end of the stadium, in which Eli Manning had
only slightly more room to operate than he did in his own backfield all night
long, the Giants quarterback bumped into misty-eyed San Francisco 49ers coach
Jim Harbaugh.

“Congratulations,” Harbaugh said. “Go win it. Go win it.”
They won this one, thanks to the kind of things Tom Coughlin preached from
the first day of training camp through the final practice before this one:
protect the football, win the turnover battle and don’t make mental
mistakes.

With these offenses stuck in neutral for the final 5:39 of regulation,
following a 25-yard field goal by David Akers that tied the game, it was pretty
clear a mistake would be the difference. The Giants hadn’t turned the ball over
all game, so they were confident their style of football would prevail.

“That was the thing I kept telling myself, ‘Be patient, don’t force anything,
don’t give them anything, our defense is playing well,’” said Manning, who shook
off six sacks to go 32-for-58 for 316 yards with two touchdowns, including a
beauty to Mario Manningham in the fourth quarter that gave the Giants a 17-14
lead. “We stuck with that and got some turnovers.”

None bigger than Williams’ strip of another Williams — 49ers returner Kyle
Williams was taking the place of injured Ted Ginn Jr. — that was recovered by
veteran Devin Thomas at the 49ers’ 24-yard line.

Earlier, Kyle Williams had a bouncing punt barely nick his knee. A replay
challenge by the Giants confirmed as much, and Thomas’ recovery on that one set
up Manningham’s touchdown.

Perhaps rattled, the Giants had a feeling they could force Williams to make a
mistake, especially while carrying a slick ball.

“He’s had a lot of concussions. We were just like, ‘We gotta put a hit on
that guy,’” Thomas said. “(Tyler) Sash did a great job hitting him early and he
looked kind of dazed when he got up. I feel like that made a difference and he
coughed it up.”

Coughlin had reminded the players “pretty much the entire week” about
protecting the ball (offense) and trying to take it away (defense). He had a
brief lump-in-throat moment, for sure, when Ahmad Bradshaw coughed it up at the
Giants’ 21-yard line with slightly more than 2 minutes left in regulation.

But the officials ruled Bradshaw’s forward progress was stopped at the end of
a 6-yard gain on second-and-21 before the ball was pried loose. The Niners
recovered but it didn’t matter because it’s a judgment call and it can’t be
challenged.
It’s the second time the Giants benefitted from that rule in this building
this season. Back in Week 10, Victor Cruz’s progress was stopped before a
fumble.

Not so for the Williams-on-Williams fumble in overtime.

Jacquian said, at first, he was trying to make a tackle. But once Kyle made a
cut, he took a shot at the ball.

And got all of it.

“I always dreamed of making a big play,” Jacquian said.

Funny, because Tynes dreamed of making the winning kick the night before. So
while Ahmad Bradshaw was trying to “hit my head on the goalpost,” meaning score
a touchdown instead of settling for a field goal, Tynes knew it would come down
to him.

Weatherford, meanwhile, was steaming. At least, Coughlin thought he was.

“He looked like he was upset. I was trying to figure out what was wrong,”
Coughlin said of Weatherford, who had been on the losing side of the previous
two AFC Championship games with the Jets. “And he said, ‘I want to get this
field goal kicked and go to the Super Bowl.’ I said, ‘That sounds like a good
idea to me.’?”

From idea to execution, it happened, thanks in part to Weatherford’s scoop of
the low snap by Zak DeOssie.

“I knew if I got the ball down and the laces out, Lawrence Tynes was going to
make the kick and we were going to Indianapolis for the Super Bowl,” Weatherford
said. “We did it.”

Excerpt: "The two brothers found each other on a loading dock just outside Candlestick
Park, surrounded by security guards, family members and a few misplaced fans who
couldn’t believe their good luck.

Eli Manning initiated the bro hug, leaning in to embrace his older brother
with his right arm. Peyton Manning pulled him close as the cell phone cameras
snapped, patting him three times on his freshly minted NFC Championship T-shirt
before he said what every Giants fan had
to be feeling.

“I’m proud of you.”

They spent just two minutes talking about this incredible NFC Championship
Game that put the younger brother back in the Super Bowl — in, of all places,
the city where the older brother became a star.

Still: There was no masking the pride from Peyton Manning. He could see this
season unfold from afar because of the neck surgery that wrecked his own season,
watching how the Giants went from 7-7 to the brink of another championship for
his family. How could he not love what he saw?

As a quarterback. As a brother.

As a Manning.

“The Giants have had a great run here the last few weeks, and I couldn’t be
more proud of Eli and how he’s played all year,” Peyton said. “He really worked
hard this offseason. He really wanted to have a good year and he sure has.
Indianapolis is lucky to have this kind of game.” Read more...

Until the evening of Feb. 3, 2008, Tom Brady’s career had been pristine,
featuring three Super Bowl titles, two Super Bowl MVP awards, not a smudge,
scratch or bent corner.

But that evening, facing a merciless Giants pass rush, Brady was sacked five
times and pummeled like never before during his sterling career. Gone was the
Patriots perfect record through 18 games of the 2007 season. Gone, too, was the
smirk from Brady’s face, after he confidently dismissed Plaxico Burress’
prediction the week of the game the Patriots would lose 23-17 in Super Bowl
XLII.

The Giants’ thrilling postseason run culminated in a 17-14 victory over the
Patriots that night in Glendale, Ariz., and Brady’s fortunes dipped. He missed
all but two quarters of the 2008 season with a knee injury and despite winning
the NFL’s MVP award in 2010, the second of his career, the once-assured Patriots
struggled in the postseason. Entering the playoffs this season, they had lost
three straight games dating back to that loss to the Giants.

Only now, nearly four years later, Brady has returned to the game that once
seemed his birthright.

Brady is still the conductor of a well-tuned, potent passing game. The
Patriots finished second in the NFL with an average 317.8 yards per game through
the regular season, but the unit’s approach to dismantling defenses has
shifted.

In 2007, the Patriots heaved passes downfield. Randy Moss, alone, caught 23
touchdown passes as he glided past defenders. But this season, Brady threw for
the second-most yards in NFL history (5,235) while using his receivers like a
master carpenter uses every instrument in his toolbox.

Wes Welker, the slithery, pocket-sized wide receiver, caught 122 passes
during the regular season, the fourth-highest total in NFL history.

Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots’ versatile tight ends, have
redefined how the position is employed offensively.

In the divisional round victory over the Denver Broncos, Brady tied an NFL
postseason record with six touchdown passes, three to the hands of Gronkowski.
But the quarterback, now in his 12th season, is more interested in redemption
than the record book." Read more...http://www.nj.com/giants/

Excerpt: "So the Giants have done it again now, out of the stars, made it back through
another overtime and into a Super Bowl. Lawrence Tynes has
kicked another overtime field goal, this time at old Candlestick Park, kicked
them to a rematch in Indianapolis with Brady and Belichick and the
Patriots.

So the Giants go back to the big game, go back because of big
defense and big luck Sunday night, go all the way to Indy from 7-7 in the
regular season. Were they lucky Sunday night at old Candlestick? You know they
were. Sometimes you need some luck to go with the magic.

It was 20-17 this time, Tynes getting the chance in overtime because a kid
named Kyle Williams, the Bill
Buckner of this game. Williams had a Steve Weatherford
punt bounce off his knee in the fourth quarter, setting up the touchdown that
briefly put the Giants ahead this time. Then he fumbled one away to Devin
Thomas in overtime that was the same as having his team’s season go through
his hands.

An overtime championship game for the Giants. Again. Nobody had ever had two
of those, until Tom Coughlin’s Giants, who came from nowhere to this one, who
had that 7-7 record, and have now won five in a row from there, gone from
nowhere to Indy.

When it was over Sunday, when there was a chance for Coughlin to have a quiet
moment in the Giants locker room, he was sitting next to Osi
Umenyiora, who turned to his coach and said, “Do you believe how all this is
going down?”

Coughlin’s Giants won it all from 10-6 four years ago. They try to do it from
9-7 this time. But here they are, here are the Giants again, back to being the
biggest game in town, and in Jersey, and everywhere there are people who grew up
loving this team, starting with the ones who go all the way back to the Polo
Grounds.

Eli Manning threw it 58
times at old Candlestick Park Sunday night, completed 32, threw two touchdown
passes, one a bullet to Mario Manningham
after that punt bounced off poor Kyle Williams’ knee when Williams shouldn’t
have been near that ball, at a time when the 49ers defense was beating up Eli
Manning but good.

But Eli Manning didn’t pick the Giants up and carry them to Indy Sunday the
way he has carried them for so much of this amazing season. He had chances to
win the game at the end of regulation, oh man did he, but could not, mostly
because he was spending too much time picking himself off the ground.

Eli got the ball first in overtime and the Giants had to punt it and got it
again and the Giants had to punt it away. And that is a way of telling you that
the Giants go to the Super Bowl because of defense out of their past. Because
they gave up two big plays — two touchdown drives for San Francisco that didn’t
last two minutes, total - and gave Alex Smith
and the 49ers nothing the rest of the day and night in San
Francisco." Read more...

SAN FRANCISCO - Lawrence Tynes came
running off the field after another overtime field goal, his index finger high
in the misty air and pointing straight to another Super Bowl.

It all
seemed so deliriously familiar to the erupting Giants on the sideline, who once
again await the New England Patriots after a 20-17 overtime victory on Sunday
night to advance to Super Bowl XLVI.

Even Tom Coughlin admitted
resisting comparisons to the Giants’ Super Bowl victory four years ago over the
Pats is now futile, and there’s no avoiding comparisons to the Giants’ glorious
past. These Giants, once on the brink of a “historical” collapse, are now on the
verge of history.

“It is kind of eerie,” said defensive end Justin
Tuck. “We tried to downplay it all along, but I’d be lying to you if I said
it didn’t feel like 2007.”

They’ll have a chance to make
sure it does on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis when the Giants (12-7) face the AFC
champion Patriots in a rematch of Super Bowl XLII — one of the greatest Super
Bowls in history. And just like they did four years ago, they set that up that
showdown with an overtime field goal by Tynes on the road.

This one was
from 31 yards, 7:06 into the extra session, on the slick field at Candlestick
Park. It came at the end of what Coughlin called “a classic football game that
seemed like no one was going to put themselves in position to win.”

Until
somebody did.

That somebody was rookie linebacker Jacquian
Williams, who reached out and stripped the ball from 49ers punt returner Kyle Williams, who
was filling in for the injured Ted Ginn, and
immediately put the Giants inside Tynes’ range. Kyle Williams had already muffed
a punt in the fourth quarter, setting up the Giants’ go-ahead touchdown. Then he
did it again in overtime when Devin Thomas, who also
recovered the previous muffed punt, recovered at the 49ers 24.

"Three steps back, two steps to the side. Rain, sleet, or snow, doesn’t
matter. Lawrence Tynes has
done this so many times, it is muscle memory by now. He even performed the task
in his sleep Saturday night, hit the winning field goal in a dream — except that
kick was from 42 yards and on the left hash mark.

This one Sunday, the one that won his second NFC title with his second
overtime kick, was from 31 yards, dead center. Sounds easy enough, except the
football was slippery, Tynes had to wait about five minutes for the kick, the
rain was blowing, the pressure was indescribable and the snap was low.

No matter. Tynes slowed his approach just a bit to give Steve Weatherford
a chance to recover and set up. The football sailed straight through the
uprights, the Giants won 20-17 and now Tynes gets to kick against the Patriots
again in a Super Bowl.

“Tough as ’08,” Tynes said, comparing this shorter kick to the 47-yarder that
beat the Packers in frozen Green Bay. “Different conditions, but I was a little
more full of anxiety today. The weather was terrible. The rain was blowing in
four different directions.”

Once he had done his job, the fun began. “The best part,” Tynes called it.
His teammates embraced him, even while he searched for his wife Amanda on the
field. There she was, nearly as happy as her husband.

Funny how this works. Four years ago, Tynes was at the end of his one-year
contract kicking for his job against the Packers. Now here he is, a two-time NFC
championship hero.

“I was just a guy trying to make it in the league,” Tynes said Sunday night
at his locker. “I still feel that way. You’re only as good as the last
kick.”

Tynes wasn’t the only hero Sunday night, of course. Eli Manning pulled off
his sixth fourth-quarter comeback this season. Victor Cruz kept the
Giants in this game early, and then Mario Manningham
made a big touchdown grab in the fourth quarter. The Giants’ special teams
created the two big turnovers that changed this game, when it was the Niners’
special teams that were supposed to be so much better.

None of that may have mattered, though, if Tynes misses the kick in some of
the worst conditions imaginable. As if on cue Sunday night, the rain and wind
grew angrier at the start of overtime. The field, already sloppy, became a
sponge.

Comment

Hey I just wanted to congratulate the Giants on a big win over the 49ers. I was really pulling for you guys from the beginning and thought it would honestly be between you and the Saints.

The reason I was posting in here was to see if anyone had any information on Marc Ross's actual involvement with the draft picks and whether or not any information has been made known as to whether the Giants would allow Ross to accept the GM position for the Bears before the Superbowl.

Comment

Hey I just wanted to congratulate the Giants on a big win over the 49ers. I was really pulling for you guys from the beginning and thought it would honestly be between you and the Saints.

The reason I was posting in here was to see if anyone had any information on Marc Ross's actual involvement with the draft picks and whether or not any information has been made known as to whether the Giants would allow Ross to accept the GM position for the Bears before the Superbowl.

[/quote]

I seem to recall something that read Ross would be given permission to interview.

“Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.” MB Rule # 1